The present invention relates to a slide glass rack for use in a centrifugal apparatus and a centrifugal apparatus suited for performing centrifugal operations to a specimen placed on a slide glass.
In the DNA microarray technology, for example, inspection of DNA is generally conducted on a specimen that is attached to a slide glass. Since the inspection accuracy is influenced by the conditions of the surface of the slide glass, a centrifugal apparatus is employed to remove the reagents used in coating to the slide glass, DNA hybridization processes or to dry the slide glass to improve the surface conditions of the slide glass.
In such a conventional centrifugal apparatus, slide glasses are directly held by a rotor of the apparatus to perform the centrifugal operations. As a result, water (liquid) blown off from the slide glass is accumulated inside a chamber of the apparatus. Therefore, it is necessary for the apparatus to be structured so that the accumulated water (liquid) is discharged outside, which makes the structure of the apparatus complicated and may increase the size of the apparatus.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a slide glass rack for a centrifugal apparatus capable of dewatering a specimen placed on a slide glass during centrifugal operations, with no necessity of using a centrifugal apparatus of specially designed structure.
According to the first aspect of the invention, a slide glass rack for use in a centrifugal apparatus having a slide glass accommodating concave that opens upward, and a flange provided on an upper outer peripheral surface of the rack.
A slide glass rack of the present invention is used in a state where it is mounted on the rotor of a centrifugal apparatus. In this slide glass rack of the present invention, water (liquid) blown off by the centrifugal force is accumulated in the concave for accommodating a slide glass. As a result, since the water (liquid) blown off by the centrifugal force is not led and accumulated into the chamber of the apparatus, it is not necessary to provide a liquid discharging device for the chamber of the apparatus, which makes the structure of the centrifugal apparatus simple.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the slide glass rack of the first aspect of the present invention, the slide glass accommodating concave has opposing ends, each of the opposing ends formed with a gap that is slightly larger than thickness of a slide glass, for positioning and supporting the slide glass, whereby the slide glass is held in the slide grass accommodating concave in such a manner that surfaces of a middle portion of the slide glass are separated from side walls defining the slide grass accommodating concave.
With the slide glass rack of this configuration, the slide glass is positioned and supported at the opposing ends thereof. Therefore, the middle portion of the slide glass where a specimen of DNA is attached can be sufficiently separated from the side walls of the concave of the rack.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the slide glass rack of the first aspect of the present invention, side walls defining the opposing ends of the slide glass accommodating concave is cut out at upper portions thereof, whereby a part of opposing ends of the slide glass held in the slide glass accommodating concave is exposed through the cutout portions.
With the slide glass rack of this configuration, the opposing end portions of the slide glass are exposed through the cut-out portion, and the slide glass can be easily taken out from the rack by picking up the exposed opposing end portions with fingers. Thus, taking out of the slide glass from the rack is easily done while the fingers are not in touch with the specimen placed in the middle of the slide glass.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the slide glass rack of the first aspect of the invention, a corner portion where outer surface of a side wall defining a longitudinal end of the rack and outer surface of a bottom wall of the rack meet is formed with an arc-shaped surface or an inclined plane surface.
With the slide glass rack of this configuration, the outer corner portions thereof do not extend outwardly. Therefore, when the rack is mounted in the rotor and is rotated, the rotation trajectory becomes smaller. As a result, the centrifugal apparatus can be smaller in size.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the slide glass rack of the first aspect of the invention, a corner portion where inner surface of a side wall defining a longitudinal end of the rack and inner surface of a bottom wall of the rack meet is formed with an arc-shaped surface or an inclined plane surface in such a manner as to deviate, toward the bottom wall, outside of a plane that is perpendicular to a direction in which centrifugal force is directed.
With the slide glass rack of this configuration, water (liquid) scattered by centrifugal force flows along the inner side wall surfaces, round surfaces or inclined surfaces of the rack that define the slide glass accommodating concave, and reaches the bottom wall of the rack. Thus, the water (liquid) is reliably guided and accumulated in the bottom of the concave.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in the slide glass rack of the first aspect of the invention, a bottom wall defining the slide glass accommodating concave is provided with a rib that extends upward from the bottom wall to support a lower end face of a slide glass.
With the slide glass rack of this configuration, the slide glass is placed in the slide glass accommodating concave with a sufficient space from the bottom wall of the concave. Therefore, such a situation cannot occur in which the slide glass is immersed into the accumulated water (liquid).
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, in the slide glass rack of the invention, the rib is formed integrally with one of side walls defining the slide glass accommodating concave while a gap is provided between the rib and another of the side walls.
With the slide glass rack of this configuration, the bottom portion of the slide glass accommodating concave is not divided into portions because of the space between the rib and the other side wall. Thus, water (liquid) accumulated in the bottom portion is uniformly distributed without being disturbed by the rib.
According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, a centrifugal apparatus comprises a rotor, wherein the rotor is formed at a peripheral edge thereof with an inclined face extending upward obliquely with a predetermined angle, the inclined face being formed with a rectangular hole through which a slide glass rack is inserted.
With the centrifugal apparatus of this configuration, the peripheral edge of the hole provided in the rotor receives the flange of the rack and holds the rack. Thus, the rotor can be of a simple structure, inexpensive and small.
According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, in the centrifugal apparatus of the eighth aspect of the invention, the rotor is formed by a plate.
With the centrifugal apparatus of this configuration, by defining a rotor by a plate, the centrifugal apparatus can be inexpensive.